Square Enix President Steps Down, Tomb Raider has “Weak Sales” of 3.4 Million This Fiscal Year

March 26, 2013Written by Jason Dunning

Square Enix published their consolidated results forecasts for Fiscal Year 2013, ending on March 31st, 2013, revealing that Sleeping Dogs, Hitman: Absolution, and Tomb Raider all have “weak sales” in North America and Europe.

Not including digital download numbers, the total expected units sold for Sleeping Dogs is 1.75 million, Hitman: Absolution at 3.6 million, and Tomb Raider at 3.4 million, with the latter having been on the market for less than a month.

Even though, to me, those sales seem very impressive and each title managed to average an 80 or higher on Metacritic, Square Enix noted that “despite the critical acclaim, [they] failed to meet each target.” They also continued by saying that the “NA sales force was ineffective, ending up with 2/3 of number of units sold in Europe” and “price pressure was strong, which forced spending additional channel costs such as price protection.”

Alongside this news, the company also announced that President and Representative Director, Yoichi Wada, is stepping down, with Yosuke Matsuda taking over. A likely reason for this change is that Square Enix is expecting to lose ¥13 billion (approximately $138 million) this fiscal year, whereas their previous forecast had them netting a profit of ¥3.5 billion (approx. $37 million).

What do you think about the sales numbers for the three titles? Do you think they were good? Let us know in the comments below.